• Alexandra Urquhart, Sarah Yardley, Elin Thomas, Liam Donaldson, and Andrew Carson-Stevens.
• Division of Population Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF14 4YU, UK.
• J R Soc Med. 2021 Dec 1; 114 (12): 563-574.

ObjectiveSix per cent of hospital patients experience a patient safety incident, of which 12% result in severe/fatal outcomes. Acutely sick patients are at heightened risk. Our aim was to identify the most frequently reported incidents in acute medical units and their characteristics.DesignRetrospective mixed methods methodology: (1) an a priori coding process, applying a multi-axial coding framework to incident reports; and, (2) a thematic interpretative analysis of reports.SettingPatient safety incident reports (10 years, 2005-2015) collected from the National Reporting and Learning System, which receives reports from hospitals and other care settings across England and Wales.ParticipantsReports describing severe harm/death in acute medical unit were identified.Main Outcome MeasuresIncident type, contributory factors, outcomes and level of harm were identified in the included reports. During thematic analysis, themes and metathemes were synthesised to inform priorities for quality improvement.ResultsA total of 377 reports of severe harm or death were confirmed. The most common incident types were diagnostic errors (n = 79), medication-related errors (n = 61), and failures monitoring patients (n = 57). Incidents commonly stemmed from lack of active decision-making during patient admissions and communication failures between teams. Patients were at heightened risk of unsafe care during handovers and transfers of care. Metathemes included the necessity of patient self-advocacy and a lack of care coordination.ConclusionThis 10-year national analysis of incident reports provides recommendations to improve patient safety including: introduction of electronic prescribing and monitoring systems; forcing checklists to reduce diagnostic errors; and increased senior presence overnight and at weekends.

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